Residential Tenancies and Valuation Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2020-07-31
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Peter Burke (FG), Longford-Westmeath

I want to make it very clear that I am in no way frustrated. My concern relates to the confusion that has been put out there for tenants. These are very vulnerable people who we may be scaring into thinking that they are facing prosecution. Can we not just remember the core point here regarding tenants' rights, the RTB, seeking advice, making a declaration and the information and assistance available. It is up to the RTB to decide if it is going to prosecute someone. There has to be a level of penalty for someone who wilfully misleads. That has to be the case. The RTB is fair.
Senator Martin went into detail on how the RTB operates. He spoke on the basis of his experience of sitting on the board and working through the cases. The Senator also outlined how impartial the RTB is. It is not going to prosecute vulnerable tenants for genuine mistakes but will work with them and public information will be provided on this. I have assured people that there will be a significant campaign in providing advice regarding how this simple process will work. We need to be very clear. We do not want to be scaring vulnerable people who will need this support tomorrow or over the next few days and weeks. I want that message to go out loud and clear. I am in no way frustrated but we have to respect the rules of debate. I refer to circumstances where Senator Higgins shouts me down before I can finish my responses to her questions. That was the only point I was making.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2020-07-31/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:48:31+00:00
Sitting date: 2020-07-31